Chapter 175 175

Chapter 175 175
“It doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me.”

“No, it doesn’t. You don’t care about money,” he says.

“Well, I certainly care if you spent too much! And I’m guessing you did. They probably don’t name buildings after people for a couple grand. And you’re talking about a million like it’s loose change.” I shake my head, the news still not fully penetrating. “Why did you do this?”

Nikolai sighs. I can tell he doesn’t want to rehash everything, but he’s being remarkably patient with me. “I told you.”

“Not really, though. If you wanted to get me a wedding gift, you could have given me jewelry. Or a knife. That’s what Makar gave me.”

“Don’t talk to me about Makar,” he growls.

I hold up a palm in apology. “But the point remains. This is a huge, massive, absurdly extravagant gift. I just don’t understand—”

“Your father isn’t here to see us get married or have a baby,” Nikolai interrupts. “He can’t be with you physically, but I’m only lucky enough to have you because you were lucky enough to have him. He helped you see a brighter future for yourself. He did for you what the Bratva did for me. He gave you drive and purpose. He helped you become who you are today. And I wanted to say thank you to him for that gift. This is my way of doing that.”

My throat is clogged with emotion. I can’t even form the words.

Nikolai wanted to tell my dad thank you… for me. He’s thankful for me.

I thought seeing my dad’s name on the news was surreal, and realizing that people are going to learn and study under my dad’s name and go on to make the world a better, more beautiful place is overwhelming.

But realizing that Nikolai did all of this for me?

That is what steals my breath away.

“Are you going to cry more?” Nikolai asks warily.

Yes. Absolutely. If I try to speak, the dam will break. I’ll lose it. I have to channel all of this emotion into something else.

So without another thought, I jump into Nikolai’s arms and kiss him.

He catches me easily, molding me against his strong body. I hook my legs around his back and swirl my tongue into his mouth. He tastes like wine and peppermint, and I moan against his lips.

“Fuck. That sound,” he growls. Within seconds, he’s carrying me up the porch like this was the plan all along. Hell, maybe it was. He had to know this was one heck of a wedding gift. The kind that can only be repaid with vigorous, energetic sex.

We bang through the front door and into the entryway. What Elise said earlier about the two of us “going at it” runs through my mind, and I bite back a smile. She’ll never know how right she was.

I pull my tank top over my head and throw it on the floor of the hallway.

“Much better.” Nikolai’s gray eyes burn across my flushing skin. I knew it was a good decision not to wear a bra.

“You think so?”

His response rumbles through his chest. “Absolutely. Never wear a shirt again.”

“I’d never be able to leave the house.”

“I fail to see the issue, kotyonok.”

We reach Nikolai’s room and he presses me back against the door. The breath whooshes out of me, and then he is everywhere. His hands grip my backside, his mouth is on my skin, his chest and hips move against mine in a slow, tortuous kind of friction.

He leans forward and takes my nipple into his mouth. I’m already pert and ready for him. When his tongue flicks over my puckered skin, I drag my fingers through his hair and moan.

“You’re going to drive me crazy with that,” he says, his lips moving across my chest.

His fingers work around the backs of my thighs, spreading my legs even further apart. I feel every inch of him through my thin lounge pants. He’s huge and hard against my center, and I roll myself against him.

My movements are clumsy and feverish, but Nikolai kisses my neck and my collarbone. He dips back down to my breasts, sucking one nipple and then the other. It feels like we’re discovering something new.

“No one knows what this is like,” I pant crazily. “If they did, they’d never do anything else. Everyone would be doing this. All the time.”

He chuckles. “We aren’t even doing anything yet.”

I’m about to ask what he means, but then he opens the door. For a second, I feel like I’m falling, but Nikolai’s strong arms have a firm grip on me. He carries me to the bed and I instantly sit up and tug on the hem of his shirt.

“I’m naked. Now, it’s your turn.”

“You’re not naked,” he says, pinching my lounge pants. “If you were naked, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Our mouths would be otherwise occupied.”

“Okay, but top for top. Take your shirt off.”

Nikolai grabs the hem of his shirt with one hand and pulls it straight over his head. And my heart explodes.

He was right. We weren’t doing anything before. Because now, his skin is right there for me to touch, and that changes everything.

Before he’s even dropped the shirt on the floor, I lunge forward and unbutton his pants. In a sexed-up haze, I shove his pants and boxers down and wrap my hand around his erection.

“What the—Fuck.” He closes his eyes and tips his head back. His Adam’s apple bobs with obvious effort. “Belle, what are you doing?”

“You can’t rip your shirt off like a lifeguard from a sex fantasy and expect me to be cool about it.”

He chuckles, but the sound transitions to a groan as I add my other hand to his base. I work him in both directions, my hands meeting in the middle. I love the way he feels velvety against my palm, soft and hard at the same time. I get lost in the touching.

“If I’d known this was waiting for me, I would have paid so much more money,” he sighs. “Fifty million doesn’t begin to cover it.”

I inhale sharply. “Fifty million. Holy—I’ve never even thought about that much money, let alone had it or seen it. You shouldn’t have, Nikolai. You really, really shouldn’t have done that for me.”

Suddenly, Nikolai pulls my hands off of him and presses me back onto the bed. His hands shackle me to the comforter, and I never, ever want to get free.

“You’re right—I didn’t have to do this for you. But you’re worth it, Belle.”

He hooks his fingers into my waistband and pulls my pants and panties down my legs. His fingers trail fire across my skin.

“Worth fifty million?”

I don’t even realize I’ve said the words out loud until Nikolai leans over my naked body and presses his lips to my navel.

“Worth everything,” he answers. “Every fucking penny.”

Kiss by kiss, he moves down my stomach and over my hip. He licks around my thigh and then, with a rough shove, slides my legs apart. I yelp in surprise, but then his breath is warm against my damp center, and I go gasping quiet. My entire body is humming with anticipation. I chew my lower lip, waiting for him to touch me, shaking with need.

When he finally spreads me with his fingers and licks across my clit, I explode.

“I’m coming,” I cry out, barely believing my own words. He hardly touched me. But the pulsing pleasure at my core doesn’t lie.

Nikolai sits up and watches me, awe written on his face. I’m pretty sure my entire body is fire engine red right now. I’m flushed with ecstasy and embarrassment as I buck and writhe on my back.

When I finally start to come down, I cover my face with my hands. “I can’t believe that just happened.”

“You came with one lick,” Nikolai snorts. “One touch.”

“Not one touch! There was all the kissing in the hallway. And the… the grinding.” A laugh bubbles out of me. “This is embarrassing.”

He kisses the inside of my thigh and shakes his head. “No, it’s not. You may not know this, Belle, but being wanted by a woman is incredibly attractive.”

“Then you must find lots of women attractive. Everyone with eyes wants you.”